I do not Win, I Defeat
by silverdiadems
Summary: (Sakura-centric) Haruno Sakura was the one chosen for the transplant. She was young, and with her intelligence and great skill as a ninja she would be able to utilize the Byakugan to its fullest. A story where the shinobi of Iwagakure succeed in capturing a Hyūga- and gaining the Byakugan. Hiatus.
1. where all lost things go

I do not win, I defeat.

silverdiadems

 _Chapter One: where all lost things go_

 **a/n: This Fanfic is strictly Sakura-centric. Pairings will be decided later if I find the need (and want) to add them to the story.**

 _ **NOTE: Instead of Kumogakure, Iwagakure tried to kidnap Hinata.**_

 _Summary: Haruno Sakura was the one chosen for the transplant. She was young, and with her intelligence and great skill as a ninja she would be able to utilize the Byakugan to its fullest. A story where the Shinobi of Iwagakure succeed in capturing a Hyuga- and gaining the Byakugan._

 **-where all lost things go-**

She wakes up into the darkness.

Unconscious or not, the world looks the same. Dark, and blank. The scent of sterilisation and chemicals fill her nose. Her fingers feel her face, running over her lips, nose, until feeling the silk material of the ribbon covering her eyes.

She pulls it off, and her world turns from dark to the bright lights of the hospital. She blinks once, twice, but something is not right.

Haruno Sakura of Iwagakure scans her surroundings with narrowed eyes. Her sight feels different to when she was put under the use of anaesthetic. But she cannot quite pinpoint what it is.

A knock sounds through the room, and Sakura casts her gaze to the white sliding door of her hospital room.

She pauses.

"Come in," she replies tentatively. The door swings open, to reveal a young man with bright yellow hair and a piercing cyan stare. He grins at her with a cat-like smile.

"Deidara," Sakura hisses, in recognition. The intruder's smile widens.

"Sakura- _chan,"_ he says mockingly, sliding the door behind him. "How's my baby sister?"

She growls, pushing herself up from the stiff bed and into a sitting position. She tenses under his gaze.

The relationship between the two half siblings was full of rivalry and Sakura simply hated it. Deidara was always acting superior to his younger sister when they both knew they were evenly matched in each spar.

"Your _baby sister_ is fine," she replies evenly. "Father will be wondering where you are."

He sighs, rolling his eyes as he takes a seat in one of the white plastic guest chairs next to her bed. She glances over at him, cocking her head slightly.

"He can go _fuck_ himself," Deidara says with distaste. Sakura doesn't react to his use of bad language. They both hate their Father, even though he is their common parent. The half-siblings had different mothers.

Sakura and Deidara were only united in one cause- hate towards their Father. He gruelled them with vigorous, torturous training at a young age. He had expected great things of his children. He wished them to be the strongest, the smartest, _fastest_ at  
/everything they did.

And he got no less.

Though, Sakura doubted Deidara were very smart.

Punishment for them had been in the form of whipping. Sakura knew that if someone were to pull up the back of Deidara and her own shirts they would see the scars.

"I see you haven't changed," said Sakura.

"You have," Deidara shot back, glancing at his sister who met his gaze with disbelief.

Sakura shut her eyes, probing her eyelids with her fingertips. "Don't remind me, Deidara."

Deidara chuckles for a moment, and they both know there is no humour in his dry laugh.

Sakura takes the silence to think. Even with the eyes of another, she sees the world the same. The world is cruel. Fate is cruel.

Once the Hyuga had been secured, and his eyes taken, her Father had jumped at the opportunity to have one of his own with the bloodline ability from Konoha.

And his youngest had gained the agreement of the council. Sakura was to be given the Byakugan.

She turns to her brother, and asks with a pleading voice. "My eyes… are they-"

Deidara casts her a sad gaze before it was masked quickly with hardened eyes. "The surgery is done. But they look the same. Green, like your mother's."

She sighs in relief.

"Activate it."

She shoots her brother a murderous glance, but she knows she must try. Better with him then alone.

"Don't blame me if it goes wrong."

"Well, the sooner you die, the sooner Father kills himself."

"Shut up, bastard."

"It's funny how you address me as such when we both are bastard children."

She sighs, refusing to give him the satisfaction of being right.

" _Byakugan!"_ She feels chakra race to her head, and her vision blacks out before being replaced by shades of blue.

The world around her is blue, and Sakura has no need to turn around to see her brother's barely concealed shocked face. She can see it with her 355 degree vision.

She immediately spots the blind spot, a narrow section behind the head. It's a hole in her infinite range of eyesight.

Sakura retracts the chakra from her eyes, and the world refills with colour.

"There's a blind spot, Deidara."

 **-where all lost things go-**

"We cannot wait any longer. Those responsible for Hyuga Hirobi's death must be brought to light."

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen , darkened his gaze at the mention of the kidnapping. He clasped his hands together under his chin, looking at the Hyuga Clan representatives that had gathered in front of him.

To his left, the twin brothers Hiashi and Hizashi stood together, muttering quietly to each other. In front of him were the Hyuga Clan elders, that had not spoken at all in this meeting- simply only taking notes and sipping tea.

He met the stare of the man who had just spoken. "Hiashi, forgive me, but how must we find those responsible? This was clearly a well-planned kidnapping, and since they have Hirobi-san's eyes- they must have been transplanted into a shinobi of Iwagakure  
/already."

Hiashi straightened, and his cheeks darkened a little with rage. But it was his brother, Hizashi, who spoke.

"Then we take the shinobi with the Byakugan. A Hyuga cannot survive long enough without his true eyes- and with the information we have from the captured shinobi from T&I, we can easily conclude that Hirobi is dead."

Hizashi grimaced, before continuing.

"But- there now is another with the Byakugan who is not of Hyuga descent. We, as Konoha shinobi should take that shinobi and bring him back to Konoha. We cannot let one of our most prestigious kekkei genkai be taken from us that easily."

Hiruzen stared in astonishment. To counter a kidnapping of one of their own with a kidnapping of one of _Iwagakure's_ own wasn't a bad idea.

"We cannot simply assume that the Byakugan Shinobi will simply come with us willingly." Hiruzen said thoughtfully. "It will be no easy task. This shinobi will be extremely well-guarded- and now he is armed with the Byakugan. Not many ANBU can easily fight  
/off a shinobi with the Byakugan."

"The Uchiha can." Hiruzen swung his gaze to one of the Hyuga Clan elders. She met his gaze with a distasteful smile.

"Homura," he acknowledged, nodding towards the Hyuga Elder. "Please, continue."

The Elder Hyuga nodded, taking a sip from her glass before continuing. "No matter how our clan tries to hide it, the Uchiha's Sharingan has always been a deadly opponent to our own Byakugan," she said, gesturing to her own pearly white eyes. "Send both  
/Uchiha and Hyuga alike after this shinobi. Send that prodigy brat of the Uchiha's. And we will send our strongest."

Hiashi turned towards the elder before pausing, deep in thought. "I will go, Hokage-sama," he said. "As Clan Head it is my duty to protect the Byakugan and the Hyuga Clan from those who may try to harm it."

Hizashi smirked. "No, brother-" he said, and the informal address sent Homura into a shocked state.

"You can only address him as 'Hyuga-sama', _branch member_ ," she hissed. "No matter how close the two of you-"

"-And as a member of the Branch House, and twin brother of the Clan Head," he muttered darkly, "it is my duty to ensure the safety of the Main House," he said, gesturing towards his elder twin brother." He faced the Hokage once more. "I will  
take this mission."

Hiruzen nodded, but his insides were full of fury. He had always hated that despicable system of hierarchy that the Hyuga used. They seemed to promote the slavery of what they called 'lower-class' members of their clan.

It was only Hiashi who treated the Branch House with respect. After all, his twin brother, born _seconds_ after him had immediately been stamped with the Cursed Seal.

"Alright," he said, sighing deeply before packing up the paperwork on his desk. "You're all dismissed. Get out."

Hizashi nodded his way, a ghost of a smile on his face.

The Hyuga dismissed themselves, flocking out of the single door in the Hokage's office. Hizashi pulled a Kakashi and ducked out of the window.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was left alone in his office once more.

 **-where all lost things go-**

"How does it feel?"

Sakura frowned, blinking twice. "It feels normal. Like nothing's changed."

Lies, of course. But Sakura knew better then dragging her time on at the hospital. Besides, Iwagakure shinobi had almost no training in the medical profession. Her Father would send her to his personal doctor soon after, anyway.

"That's good," the nurse replied airily. Sakura scoffed. She didn't care.

"I'll be back tomorrow before you're discharged. Make sure to drink lots of water, and use your eye drops," she said, gesturing at the bottle on her bedside table.

"Hai, hai," Sakura said dryly.

"Alright then. See you later." Without waiting for a reply, the nurse dismissed herself out of Sakura's room.

She sighed, and slouched her back once the nurse was out of her eyesight. A few days ago Deidara had thoughtfully bought her a mirror, and Sakura examined the way her eyes flickered from sea-green to pale lavender in a matter of seconds.

Day by day, Sakura had watched the green fade from her eyes. Gradually her eyes stopped flickering to green, and on the day she was set to be discharged her eyes no longer shone in their normal green hues.

She gathered her mirror, and changed back into her normal shinobi clothes. She wore black bike shorts and a fishnet shirt over a dark crop top. She fisted her hair and threw it back into a messy ponytail, glancing at the mirror on her bedside table tostraighten  
out the lumps in her hair.

Sakura folded the hospital gown she had previously adorned and left it on the already made bed. She grabbed her Iwagakure hitai-ate , and was about to tie it over her forehead when she caught her own gaze in the mirror.

Pearly, pupiless eyes stared back at her. She pulled the forehead protector down, and tied it over her eyes. Her vision was smothered as he silk rested over her eyes. She couldn't look at herself in another person's eyes. It was sick.

 _Some_ days, Sakura cursed her Father for bringing Deidara and her up in such an inhumane manner. _Every_ day Deidara cursed Kenji Kirasaki for bringing his children up as the ultimate killing machines.

As a result, both children had refused to keep his last name. She was simply Sakura. He was simply Deidara.

Drawing chakra to her eyes was easier after she had practiced it a few times. "Byakugan," she murmured, as the world suddenly came alive in shades of blue.

The world was rather beautiful through the eyes of a Hyuga. Sakura could see every detail, but not colour. Not that it mattered.

She slid the door open, and walked out of her hospital room. She saw the hospital staff cast her looks of bewilderment as she successfully navigated the hospital without being able to see.

Well, they thought she couldn't see.

Her eyes were open and alive with the Byakugan under the silk ribbon of her hitai-ate. She nodded at the receptionist.

"Name?"

"Sakura."

"Last name?"

"I don't have one."

She saw the receptionist pause, before continuing to shuffle through her papers.

"Ah, here you are." The receptionist pulled out a copy of her medical certificate. "Please sign here." She handed her the form, and Sakura took it mid-air.

 _THE HOSPITAL OF IWAGAKURE_

 _MEDICAL FORM_

 _Name: Sakura __

 _Surgery: Eye Transplant._

 _Illness/Injury: Rehabilitation from an eye transplant._

 _Date of Discharge: 7th March_

 _Patient's Signature: __

She signed the along the line with simply her name and a few fancy swirls. She handed it back to the receptionist.

"Alright. You're free to go."

Sakura nodded her thanks, and walked out the doors of the hospital. She didn't dare remove her forehead protector.

She walked briskly to Kirasaki Manor, for she could sense Deidara's chakra pattern there. Chakra patterns worked in mysterious ways. She had always associate chakra signatures with colour, but in the colourless world of the Byakugan she could recognise  
/them by aura.

Aura was like energy, and with her Byakugan Sakura could-

She stopped in her thoughts. Not her Byakugan. It wasn't rightly her ability. She wasn't born a Hyuga.

But she had become one by surgery.

She wondered what was happening in the Land of Fire, as she strode down the streets of Iwagakure onautopilot. She knew the way too well to pay any real attention to where she was going.

When she approached the gates of the manor, she tugged them open with ease, slipping inside and nodding to the guards stationed at the entrance.

"Sakura-sama," they said in unison, and Sakura nodded at them before walking briskly to the front entrance. She heard the clang of the gate behind her as it swung shut.

She could hear her brother's voice as she approached the door. She slid it open, her gaze immediately on the blonde.

"Deidara, shut up! You're so loud."

Deidara didn't reply.

It was only then when Sakura thought to assessher surroundings. She was safe now, so she slid her hitai-ate off and deactivate the Byakugan. The veins retreated into her eyes, and she blinked.

Deidara was standing, his face contorted with rage. Her Father stood opposite to him, his face calm but the barest of emotion slipping through the cracked mask. Rage.

The two froze, and Deidara turned around to meet his sister with a much calmer expression. "Sister," he greeted. The two were to never address each other with their names when in the presence of their Father.

"Brother," Sakura greeted in turn. She bowed deeply at her father. "Father," she said in a low voice.

"Sakura," Kenji greeted, smiling. He walked over to her, caressing her face with his scarred fingers. "I see the transplant was successful. _Wonderful."_

Sakura tried no to flinch at her Father's touch.

"Get off her."

She turned, unintentionally freeing herself from her father's touch. Deidara was furious, glaring at their father with killing intent.

"Deidara," Kenji said darkly. "I warned you."

"No," Deidara said, shouting now. Sakura flinched. Deidara and their Father always fought, and this was no exception. "You had no right to transplant her eyes. What if the surgery failed? You would have lost a daughter. I would have lost a sister. You  
/had no right to risk her safety without her consent."

"No." The siblings stared incredulous when their father denied his claim. "I wouldn't have lost a daughter. I would have lost a tool."

"A _tool_?! That's all you think of us, isn't it you filthy bast-"

" _Deidara!_ " Sakura's hand slipped over her mouth when she realised her ownslip of thetongue. She glanced at Kenji, and he showed no emotion as he narrowed his eyes.

"Both of you. Dismissed. Do not show your face in front of me until you have deemed yourselves worthy of being in my presence."

Sakura steeled her face free of emotion. Deidara didn't bother. "Gladly," the eldest hissed, before grabbing Sakura and taking her with him.

Sakura let him drag them away from their father.

 **-where all lost things go-**

A/N: Um. Yeah.

This idea hit me like a bulldozer in the middle of the night. I hope everyone enjoyed this. Also, I know that Iwagakure wasn't the one to attempt to kidnap Hinata. It was Kumogakure. But for the sake of Deidara *hearts in my eyes* and the storyline Ihave  
altered this detail.

 **Note:** if you read carefully, you would have noticed that the Hyuga that was captured was not Hinata. His name was mentioned to be Hyuga Hirobii, and OC of mine that only existed to be killed off. Sad.

Please, this story may be a little controversial but I want all of you to remain open minded. It will be a little angsty, involve some humour, maybe romance… *waggles my eyebrows*

Also, would you guys want me to post **short chapters frequently** or **long chapters with a longer wait between them?**

Tell me what you liked! Tell me what you want out of this story! REVIEW! Please!

 **Review!**

 **Tourmaline Sword**

 _Word Count: 2,555_


	2. the darkness is our kingdom

I do not win, I defeat.

silverdiadems

 _Chapter Two: the darkness is our kingdom_

 **a/n:** OMG. The feedback from this has been AMAZING. Thank you! I normally wouldn't put an author's note at the top of the page, but I've received over 30 follows, and 3 reviews and a couple of faves :) Thanks everyone for opening up to  
this idea. Special thanks to **ScarletloveFever** for leaving a long review of what you thought about the idea. Glad you liked it.

 **-the darkness is our kingdom-**

"Do you understand? You are not to injure, harm, or assault the target in any manner, no matter how dangerous he is. The target is to be returned to Konoha for rehabilitation. You will leave in two hours."

Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the shinobi in front of him. Team Itachi had always been the strongest of the ANBU teams, and Hiruzen was confident that they'd be able to take on the task at hand.

"We understand, Hokage-sama," Uchiha Itachi spoke in his velvet tongue, glancing briefly at his teammates before nodding at his superior in confirmation.

"Then be dismissed." Hiruzen nodded at the shinobi, who immediately Shunshined out. The captain, cloaked in his grey ANBU uniform remained standing in front of him.

"Itachi," Hiruzen greeted, nodding at the young leader. "What do you wish to talk to me about?"

"The Uchiha will want details on this mission, Hokage-sama," Itachi said, removing his ANBU mask and clearing his throat. "Do you wish me to tell them that this mission involves the recapture of the Byakugan? The Uchiha will surely be curious at the loss  
of a shinobi with a kekkei genkai."

Hiruzen sighed, massaging his temple. The Naras couldn't blame him if they borrowed their signature word, would they? "How troublesome," The Hokage admitted, looking at the young boy.

And that was al he was really, a young boy. Itachi was young, but Hiruzen couldn't help but think he was born into the wrong family. When working with the young adult to cease the Uchiha Clan's quench for power, he had learned the boy to be a soft-hearted,  
kind child.

And there was that, too. The Uchiha Clan was still unstable, and Hiruzen could only hold off Danzo and the council for so long before they overruled his decision.

"Do not speak of the Byakugan Shinobi," he instructed Itachi. The boy nodded. "In doing so the Uchiha might pay special attention to the shinobi, once he comes subdued into Konoha. We do not want the Uchiha to act and attempt to eliminate the shinobi."

"Understood."

Hiruzen smiled sadly, gesturing towards the door. "Go now, Itachi. I promise that things will clear up soon."

Itachi halted, his back facing the old man on his way to the door. He turned slightly before continuing his way out the door. The footsteps soon vanished, and Hiruzen knew Itachi had used the ShunShin.

Sighing, the Hokage picked up the piles of paperwork that piled on his desk. He placed the first one in front of him and began to read.

 **-the darkness is our kingdom-**

Deidara had left her room an hour or so prior, so Sakura was left alone in her room when all the lights turned out and the darkness took over.

She was tired, but her eyes stayed wide open, their pupiless gaze looking back at her as Sakura stared at her dark, shadowed reflection in the moonlight.

She could almost imagine the outline of a sharp jaw, a face that wasn't her own, and long, dark hair that would settle neatly around the shinobi's shoulders. His eyes just like her own. White, with the soft hints of soft lavender.

She had known little of the shinobi whose eyes she looked at herself with. She wondered where he was now. Probably up there in the sky somewhere, she though dryly. Probably somewhere in the deepest pits of hell hating her and her very existence, hating  
her homeland for taking away his life and his eyes.

"Ah well," Sakura sighed, dropping the mirror on her bedside with a clang. She fell back onto her bed, the hair fanning out behind her as she listened to the sound of her own breathing.

It was quite hot in Iwa this time of the year, and Sakura listened intently to the only sound in the room; the sound of the whirling fan. It helped out a lot in the hot temperatures that Iwagakure could reach in summer, as it was currently January- the  
peak of the heat.

Sleeping was almost impossible in the heat, and Sakura could feel her skin grow clammy as she lay on her bed. She continued to toss and turn but her eyes would not become tired, would not close.

Sakura attempted to force herself into sleep, but her mind kept wandering, kept thinking, while her eyes stayed open without a sign of fatigue. As her eyes stared pointlessly in front of her, her mind raced with strategies, possibilities, and options.

Her current object of thought: the Byakugan. Or more specifically, Konoha's reaction to having one of their most prestigious kekkei genkai stolen right underneath their nose. Iwagakure's fake alliance with the village hidden in the leaves had been clever,  
to gain the trust of the very village they would betray moments later.

When Deidara and his teammates came back with the Hyuga shinobi, Sakura praised her own handiwork.

She was a prodigy. A born genius.

After all, she was very smart.

Deidara might have had the firepower, but Sakura was all the brains. She calculated every step ahead, and if her opponent ever felt they had the advantage- she had already planned the thirty-six ways the fight would end.

In theory, she was a paper-ninja.

A ninja who was destined to sit behind a desk filing mission reports and writing down interrogation notes. She would forever be locked up as her job as secretary. Sakura could see it happening.

But then, something changed.

The Byakugan was a key factor in Sakura's life that she hadn't anticipated. Having the ability to access this kekkei genkai would change things in her future- drastically. Even if she wanted to grow old and fat without training, the council would have  
placed her on mission after mission because of her all-seeing eyes.

And then there was her father. Sakura predicted, no, Sakura knew he would push her to the limits with physical training instead of mental.

She gritted her teeth in frustration. She thought she had her future all planned out until her Father had to go mess everything up.

Sakura sighed, and rolled over.

She knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

 **-the darkness is our kingdom-**

As predicted, her father took her into their private training grounds the next morning.

When Deidara had knocked to tell her to wake up, Sakura was already up and running, popping soldier pills into her mouth like candy at crushing them in her teeth. She grimaced at their bitter, earthy taste as her thirst, fatigue and hunger disappeared  
with a single chew.

She pulled on a black singlet top and leggings that ended below her knee. The morning air still held some cold from the night, but it wasn't cold enough to postpone training any further. She tied her hitai-ate around her forehead, tapping the metal and  
posing in the mirror.

Her smile vanished as soon as she turned away from her reflection.

She walked to the armoury, where she promptly gathered her equipment for the training session. Pulling on a pair of practical shinobi boots, Sakura slipped her twin silver daggers in the holsters hidden in the boot.

She grabbed a pouch full of shiruken, and pulled her weapon summoning scroll from its canister in one of the many shelves in the armoury. She jumped up and down a few times, making sure all weapons were secured and wouldn't harm her agility and speed  
in the spar.

Walking briskly down the corridors, Sakura reached the courtyard located at the heart of the Kirasaki Mansion, a wide hundred by hundred metre field.

Her father was already there, and Sakura acknowledged his presence by simply nodding, no emotion slipping through her gaze. Her father nodded in approval.

"Sakura," he greeted, as she set her tools down on the ground next to her in a clang. "I trust you slept well."

"I did, Father," Sakura dutifully replied.

"Good. We'll be working with your _newly required asset,_ " he said, smirking at his daughter's pearly eyes.

Sakura nodded.

"We're going to play _hide and seek,_ " her father crooned, almost mockingly at his youngest. Sakura shot him a thunderous look and he ignored her.

"Blindfold yourself. You'll find me with only the use of your Byakugan. I'll-"

"No."

Her father paused. Sakura gnawed on her lip. Wrong thing to say.

"No? Sakura, please explain."

She sighed, unsealing her silver-bladed katana from its scroll and twirling it for good measure. She slipped it into its canister at the back of her back in two swift flicks of her wrist. "No matter what you say Father, these eyes will never be mine.  
They belong rightly to the Konoha shinobi who-"

"Silence."

She shut her mouth, slipping her forehead protector oven her vision so she couldn't see her Father's face. The word grew dark and ambiguous, as her ability to see disappeared.

"No daughter of mine will deny what belongs to her and only to her. We'll begin training now."

Sakura ducked her head in affirmation. _I'll never be your daughter._

With the Byakugan activated the world turned into a mix of chakra and blue. She could feel the small glowing auras of their servants and the large powerful presences of both Deidara and her Father.

She stood absolutely still, trying to grasp her surroundings by sending out waves of chakra and having them reflect back at her, mapping an image in her mind of where she was.

She shifted minutely to the right. "This way should be the South Wing," she thought aloud, muttering softly under her breath. "And that the east."

She stepped cautiously, one foot after the other. This was nothing like the last time she had used the Byakugan- for then the market place had been alive with people and chakra, but now the world was empty around her.

Waling faster as she gained confidence in her surroundings and her ability, Sakura grasped a sense of direction as she manoeuvred through the servants, and locating her Father briskly. She opened the door to the library, pulling off her hitai-ate to reveal  
her father.

"Nicely done," her Father commented. "Though you could have been faster."

She glared at the ground.

"Round two."

He vanished in a puff of smoke, and Sakura retied her hitai-ate.

Her eyes widened at the presence of a large chakra signature, and she broadened her field of sight, tracking and pinning down its location. She turned abruptly as sharp flares of chakra appeared in her mind, and she concentrated on sensing, expanding  
her chakra sense to cover 50 metres, 100, 50, 20…

"Four chakra signatures at level five," she muttered, tutting. Not her father but ANBU class shinobi.

A team of four shinobi, she mused. Most likely from Konoha or Iwagakure, she thought, based on their elemental signatures.

She eliminated Iwagakure shinobi immediately as an option, for they sent out their ANBU in squadrons of six, while Konoha shinobi travelled in squadrons of four, matching the shinobi's presences she sensed.

The fastest way would be to teleport directly to them, she thought, but that would drain her chakra considerably. Sakura knew her strengths, and stamina wasn't one of them. She had no chance against fire-type ANBU shinobi.

Her mind raced, and she abandoned her training in favour of the intruders.

 _Konoha shinobi. 4. Fire typs, earth types. Three have chakra pulsing in their eyes- Uchiha, Hyuga shinobi? Optical based kekkei genkai. Mission type- sending four fire type doujutsu wielding shinobi for what purpose?_

"Think, think," she muttered. She had to get their objective right, or she would be rushing into a battle with no knowledge of the enemy or the reason they were here.

 _Assassination? No, wasting valuable shinobi who use doujutsu on one mission would be impractical and not logical. All team members are slim, light, carrying no chakra-based weapons… a kidnaping? All agile and most likely fast for their builds, these shinobi are designed for assassination and retrieval._

 _But what for?_

 _Konoha shinobi. Iwagakure. Hyuga, Uchiha, doujutsu, Byakugan, assassination, slim, tall, light…_

"Of course," she breathed pulling the silk ribbon from her eyes. "A life for a life. Or, to put it literally _an eye for an eye."_

Ah. So that was it. Sakura frowned.

"Too easy," she muttered, pulling out her blade. "Almost if they wanted to be found."

She was right again. They wanted her to be able to sense their presence, wanted her to walk right into their open trap. She laughed slightly.

Pulling one of her silver blades from its hidden sheath in her boot, she aimed at the trees surrounding the mansion that she could see the shinobi from. Flicking her wrist, the kunai sang, slicing through the air.

Sakura smirked. "All's well that ends well."

 **-the darkness is our kingdom-**

Itachi could feel the strain from the Sharingan's drain on his chakra reserves.

He watched every figure in the house, his eyes pinpointed and locked onto their chakra signatures. He could hear Shisui sigh from behind him.

"We done yet? Nothing's happened."

"No," Itachi murmured back.

It all happened too fast. Shisui's eyes widened, his eyes shifting into blood red as he somersaulted backwards and out of the tree he sat on to avoid the blade, landing with a thump on the floor.

It flew on behind him, and Itachi caught it by the handle, spinning in before examining it carefully.

"It was aimed for you," Itachi observed quietly, flipping the blade over to read the inscripted name.

"Sa…ku…ra," he muttered, reading the hiragana characters. "Sakura."

Shisui gathered himself and rejoined Itachi on the branch. "How'd they aim from all the way there-" he pointed at the mansion. "-to here?"

Itachi's eyes faded from the dim glow of the Sharingan and into soft black. A distance of 436 metres, with an accuracy of 98.99%, travelling at 2k/per minute…

"Byakugan," Itachi hissed, as Shisui gave a grunt in acknowledgement. He flipped the blade over again, rereading the name.

"It seems we have our mysterious shinobi."

 **-the darkness is our kingdom-**

 **a/n:** oh my lord I'm sorry.

This was meant to be an ACTION FILLED, BADASS chapter but I ended up filling it with a bunch of filler in order to shape this alternate reality a little more. I wanted Sakura's guilt of taking another shinobi's prized possession in there, her hateful  
relationship with her father and her exploring the Byakugan to be in this chapter. As well as a bunch of hokage and Itachi shit.

I've read a lot of fics on Hinata and Neji and seeing how the author's portray 'Byakugan vision' and I attempted to throw a twist to it.

So, if a shinobi with the Byakugan is blindfolded (their Byakugan is activated), they can **only** see chakra patterns and not colour, etc.

If they are not blindfolded, they can see normally with the added bonus chakra patterns.

For me, the Byakugan works like echolocation. To see objects with the Byakugan the users sends out waves of chakra and the chakra bounces off objects and back to the user, forming a sense of location. It's basically 'seeing with chakra'.

Anyways, next chapter will be what I intended this chapter to be.

 **Toodles. Review please! I want your thoughts on this idea. Reviews may lead to faster updates. *winks**

 **Tourmaline Sword**

 _Word count: 2337_


	3. blood oath

I do not win, I defeat.

silverdiadems

 _Chapter Three: Blood Oath_

 **a/n:** muah, I love you all! :) Also, please note that I'm **Australian** , and we spell 'color' as 'colour'. It's not a spelling error, it's how we spell some words. Such as 'favor' and 'favour'.

60+ follows already. Tytytyty!

 **-blood oath-**

Sakura hadn't sensed the Konoha nin since Tuesday.

It was Friday now, and Sakura was constantly on high alert, waking up at night randomly at the smallest noises.

She yawned, making her way to the kitchen to grab an apple from the fridge. She dug into it with renowned gusto, enjoying its crisp and sweet flavour.

Sitting at the kitchen island, she opened the scroll her father had requested she read and scanned its contents, frowning once or twice at the technical terms she didn't understand.

The scroll contained detailed mappings of the tenketsu in one's body, the chakra points that Sakura could relate to seeing even with her limited time in this situation.

"You're up early."

Sakura turned her head slightly, seeing the bright yellow of her brother's hair. "Couldn't sleep," she muttered, returning to studying the scroll.

Deidara slid into the seat next to her, pulling the scroll out of her hands and scanning it. He read through it, and Sakura noted with amusement that he didn't understand a word of it.

"So this is the crap Father has you reading," he muttered, tossing the scroll carelessly back to Sakura. She caught it one handed, gnawing at the apple until only the core remained. She shrugged and turned to him with a deadpan expression.

"As if you understood it," said Sakura, chucking the apple core over her shoulder and straight into the bin.

Deidara scowled, slipping off the chair, and punching his sister lightly in the shoulder. "Stop showing off, yeah," he muttered, much to Sakura's amusement. He tapped her on the shoulder, walking out of the room.

She sighed, the room suddenly dull and grey without Deidara's bright coloured hair. Rubbing her eyes, she walked out of the colourless room.

 **-blood oath-**

She dressed in a sky blue singlet and black leggings, after stepping out of the shower. The shower had certainly made up for the lack of sleep she got last night.

She tied her Iwa hitai-ate around her eyes, and activated the Byakugan with a quick pulse of chakra to her eyes. She had grown accustomed to the blue hues of the chakra filled world, learning to make out the lines of the chakra pathways that distinguished  
man from animal.

Heading out the door, Sakura made a beeline towards the market place, where civilians often set up their stalls full of fresh fruit, and many other organic products.

She had come to browse, mostly procrastinate, as today her father hadn't demanded she train this morning. She dodged the hustle and bustle of the housewives gathering fruit and vegetables from the organic markets.

Sakura paused in front of a fabric store, before ducking under the fold of the makeshift shelter of the stall. Walking up to the countertop, she nodded at the person behind the counter.

"Greetings," said a masculine voice, and through her blindfold she couldn't see if he was smiling or not. Sakura nodded back at him, and scanned the store, making sure it was empty.

"Do you sell ribbons for hitai-ate?" said Sakura, gesturing to her temporary blindfold.

"We do," the man replied, and Sakura watched his chakra pathways move with his arm. He waved behind him to fabrics Sakura couldn't clearly see.

Sighing, she pulled of her hitai-ate, dispelling the chakra from her eyes. She blinked slowly, readjusting to the colour.

"Your eyes," said the man behind the counter, furrowing his brows in a mixture of wonder and confusion. "They're so pale… I'm sorry, are you blind?"

Sakura chuckled darkly. Fate was hilarious sometimes. "Far from blind," she said vaguely. Handing him her hitai-ate, she gestured to the fabrics behind him. "Can you replace the blue with a dark red?"

"Oh, of course," the man said sheepishly, running his hands through his brown hair in embarrassment. He pulled a deep red sheet of material from its place on the display rack. "Silk or cotton?"

"Silk," said Sakura.

He nodded, pulling dressmaker's scissors from his belt, slicing a thin strip off the bottom of the fabric. Trimming some of the stray threads, he pried the metal plaque off the blue material and gluing it with fabric glue onto the new ribbon.

"That'll be 500 ryo," he said, handing her hitai-ate back to her.

She nodded, passing him 600. "Keep the change," she said, turning to walk out. "I trust you won't tell anyone."

Much to Sakura's amusement, the man feigned ignorance. "Tell anyone what?"

She spun on the heel of her boot, glaring at him with her pupil-less gaze. "Don't play innocent with me. You know exactly what my eyes mean. You're a shinobi."

A shinobi's chakra pathways were different to a civilian's, for a shinobi's tenketsu glowed with life and use, while a civilian's were barely glowing, simply there as their life force, not used for anything else.

She could sense the mass of chakra in his body from the moment she walked in, her hand resting innocently on her side, ready to draw the blade inside her boot.

The man remained silent.

She nodded in satisfaction, tying her hitai-ate back over her eyes.

"Why red?"

She looked over her shoulder, pausing, and smirking ever so slightly as she pulled the knot, securing its place over her eyes.

"Blood stains won't be an issue now," she said breezily, walking out of the store.

 **-blood oath-**

"That's her."

Shisui glanced at his cousin incredulously. "How can you be certain? Just because she's got pink hair, doesn't means she's-"

"The chakra concentrated around her eyes and her tense stance indicates that she has an ocular doujutsu, and that she is a shinobi," said Itachi, walking alongside his cousin through the marketplace. "Why do you think she has her hitai-ate around her  
eyes?"

Shisui grumbled at his cousin's logic.

"The pink hair only reassures my theory," Itachi stated, as they promptly changed direction in order to trail Sakura.

"You know," Shisui said, patting his younger cousin on the head. "I think you stole all the smart genes in your family. Sasuke's bound to grow up dumb as _fuck._ "

Itachi glared at the insult towards his brother.

"I wasn't being smart," he countered. "Compared to you, everyone's a genius."

Shisui burst out laughing, causing many withering looks to be thrown in his direction. "My cousin learns from the best."

Itachi ignored him.

"You copied any water jutsu? I'm still in pain from that _burn_ you gave me."

 **-blood oath-**

"New hitai-ate," her father said approvingly. "Suits you."

She sneered at him, sitting opposite him on the traditional Japanese table. They sat cross-legged on the ground, a chessboard set between them.

She called one of the servants over and asked for some green tea, her eyes never leaving her father's blue ones. _Why_ has her mother fallen in love with such a despicable man?

"We're going to play chess," said her father, stating the obvious. "But with a twist. You'll play blind, with only the Byakugan to see where I move my pieces."

She nodded.

Easy enough. She could feel what piece to move, and by tracking the chakra in his fingertips, she could find out where her father moved the pieces to.

"Blindfold on."

She complied, sliding her hitai-ate down an inch to cover her eyes. The world re-emerged in hues of blue.

"White moves first," said her father mockingly. She could almost feel his smirk.

Ghosting her fingers above the pieces, she settled on the curved horse-head of the knight. She lifted it and placed it lightly on the board, roughly where she wanted it to be.

No objection from her father told Sakura she had made a valid move. She visualised the board in her mind, with all pieces in their starting positions except for her white knight.

Following the blue strings of her father's fingers, she noticed that he picked up the piece in front of the king. A pawn.

"Pawn to D5, am I correct?"

Her father laughed. What a nasty sound, Sakura mused.

"Correct as always, my dear."

They went on, playing the game of strategy (and memory in Sakura's case), with their pride on the line.

As well as keeping track of all the pieces in her mental board, Sakura had noticed something else. Two well concealed chakra signatures, hidden in the space between the roof and the insulation. She had no idea how on earth they had gotten inside there,  
but there was no questioning it.

It was the Konoha nin.

She allowed some time simply tracking their movement. There had been stationary for the last fifteen minutes or so, she noted.

 _They're not going anywhere anytime soon._

Casting her attention back to the chessboard, she picked up her the white queen, moving the piece onto the offensive, backing the black king into the corner.

"Check."

Her father countered, blocking with a pawn.

She brought out her rook to flank the queen, ensuring that her queen wouldn't be taken any time soon. Her father would most likely take the rook with his bishop, and she would in turn take his bishop and declare check once again.

But instead, her father brought out another pawn, moving it one, two, _three,_ spaces forward. Her eyes narrowed, checking her mental map of the chessboard.

"You can't do that. Move it back a space, you filthy cheater."

Her father laughed heartily, and the sound of wood on wood told Sakura he had done as she ordered. "You're better than I thought."

Sakura smirked, as since he got caught cheating, it left his king to the mercy of her rook.

Moving her rook, she allowed herself a true smile as she declared check.

Her father attempted to counter the move, but Sakura swiftly took his sacrificial pawn.

"Checkmate."

She felt around for the handle to her teacup, allowing herself a generous sip.

Her father nodded. Sakura saw him rise from his seat and as he exited the tea room, she immediately stood up, yanking her hitai-ate off her eyes, drawing her twin silver blades from their holsters in her boots.

"Get where I can see you, Konoha Shinobi," she hissed. "Call yourselves lucky I didn't alert my bastard father."

One Shunshined in front of her and with his dark hair and red gaze Sakura immediately recognized him.

"Shunshin no Shisui," she greeted, performing a mock curtsey. "What an honour. I wonder who you brought with you on this mission."

 _Don't look at the eyes, don't look at the eyes, DON'T YOU DARE, SAKURA look at his eyes…_

Uchiha Shisui smiled, waving cheerfully. "Hello there, Sakura," he said with enthusiasm, bowing deeply. "I must say, your accuracy is impressive. Almost knocked me off the tree. But you intended that didn't you?"

"Of course," said Sakura.

Shisui dropped a flash bomb, and the room was suddenly illuminated with bright, harsh light. She raised her hands to block the light, squeezing her eyes shut.

Byakugan activated, Sakura sensed the appearance of three other chakra signatures. Her grip tightened on her blades.

The light dispersed, and the room reappeared.

Sakura stood in the centre of the room surrounded by four masked ANBU. They were identical in clothing and masks, and she placed the blades in an x in front of her face.

She listened intently, and as one threw a shiruken towards her, she let it hit her. It was too silent, which meant-

"Kai!" She shouted, and the shiruken disappeared mid-air.

They darted towards her, and Sakura jumped into the air as they attacked, and she flipped to land behind them.

"Too slow, Shisui," as she sensed the familiar chakra signature, and as he darted to attack, she swung her blade at him, and was blocked by another Uchiha's kunai.

Metal on metal clashed, and Sakura broke the fight, withdrawing her right blade and striking with her left.

The Uchiha flipped back, and shot a beam of fire, missing Sakura and setting the wooden floor on fire.

"Idiot," Sakura hissed, panting.

" _Suiton: Surriyadan_!" A stream of water gathered from the water vapour in the air put out the fire.

A shinobi slammed her fist against her back, and she lurched forward, eyes widening, as she didn't see the attack coming, even with her almost 360 degree vision.

 _Right in the blind spot,_ Sakura thought, as she collapsed to the ground. She flipped back to avoid a stream of shiruken from hitting her, wincing as they sunk into the wooden walls.

Turning around, she aimed a roundhouse kick into the stomach of her attacker, and as he dodged, she stumbled mid-air, somersaulting to land on her two feet.

She threw her right blade into the air, catching it and slashing it in front of her, clearing out the ANBU's advances towards her. They could easily predict her next moves with the red gaze of the copy eye.

"You're going easy on me," she panted, punching the same shinobi, wrenching her fist away as he caught her punch. Pushing chakra into her thighs, she launched herself into the air, throwing her blades at him.

The ANBU didn't bother to block, as the blade knocked off his mask. Sakura gasped, her hesitation allowing Shisui to creep up behind and hold her arms behind her back. She wrestled with him, but Shisui held her arms tight.

"You…" she gasped, as her pearly eyes widened.

For she was staring at a pair of lavender tinted eyes.

"You're a Hyuga," said Sakura, going limp. "To think they sent a Hyuga after me…"

The ANBU pulled off their masks, and her eyes widened, as she saw the faces of the famous Uchiha Itachi and Shiranui Genma.

The Hyuga ignored her, gesturing to Itachi to keep hold of her. "You're coming with us."

Sakura's eyes widened with panic, as she struggled violently, kicking and trashing until Itachi silenced her attempts with a glare. Shisui's grip on her hands stayed tight and not wielding.

She spiked her chakra, hoping that Deidara would take notice and come help her. As much as it hurt her pride, she knew she couldn't break out alone. Itachi's eyes narrowed and was about to order her to stop when the door burst open.

She had never been so glad to see Deidara in her life.

 **-blood oath-**

He heard her chakra spike, and Deidara ran to the tea room as fast as he could, shunshining a few times along the way.

"You slow cow," Sakura said loudly as Deidara slammed the door open. He was about to spite her back, when he met the gaze of one of her captors.

"Get your ugly hands off my sister," he snarled, feeding clay into his hands to create some explosives. _C2 should wipe them out_ , he mused.

He knew Sakura could resist the explosion, for she knew exactly how to avoid getting hit. She could simply stay flat on the floor, and the explosion wouldn't affect her.

He hoped Father wouldn't be too mad at his favourite tea set being broken.

The one with brown hair gagged his sister and pointed a katana at him. "Leave, or be killed."

"Tch," said Deidara. "As if."

He failed to notice how Sakura shook her head furiously at him.

Faster than ever before, he threw his bomb, sending chakra out mid-air to detonate it. "Katsu!"

It exploded, and the whole room crumbled and creaked, dust swarming everywhere. Debris and splinters from the wood furniture and floor shot everywhere like sharp senbon, and he felt himself wince as splinters imbedded themselves into his skin.

He coughed violently as the debris settled, performing a small wind jutsu to clear the dust from the room.

The damage had been dealt, the room had become a shell of its former glory, and the floorboards had splintered and cracked.

No bodies lay on the ground.

No fatalities.

No weapons.

No pink hair, no pearly eyes.

No Sakura.

Deidara closed his eyes, not wanting to look at the destroyed room anymore.

Silently, he walked out, ignoring the servants that had come to see what the commotion was about.

He had lost his sister.

 **-blood oath-**

 **a/n:** The chapter title, _blood oath,_ is all about the whole 'blood is thicker than water' thing. It's meant to show the twisted bond Deidara and Sakura share as siblings.

All of you, feel sorry for Deidara! He just lost his sister to foreign ninja because of his father. I mean, Kenji Kirasaki is a true asshole in this story.

Muah, kisses to all of you who reviewed, faved and followed! Like seriously. Over sixty of you have followed this so far. Heck.

Thank You! And Thank YOU if you reviewed!

 **Remember to leave your opinion on my story! Just *boop* the review button.**

 **Tourmaline Sword**

 _Word Count: 2,683_


	4. seeing is believing

I do not win, I defeat.

silverdiadems

 _Chapter Four: seeing is believing_

* * *

 **a/n:** _you guys are awesome! :D Notice the username change, from Tourmaline Sword to silverdiadems. Call me silver. 3_

 _To clear things up, I mentioned in a previous chapter that the Hyuga that had been captured was named 'Hyuga Hirobi' not Hinata. I repeat, Hinata is not dead. At least not yet._

 _(jokes, I swear!)_

 _ **Also**_ _, I may have mentioned that the Sakura you are reading about is_ _ **very young**_ _. Young, but mature for her age. She's about_ _ **eight**_ _\- until the time skip that will be coming up in the second arc of this story._

 _ **Warning:**_ _May contain somewhat violent themes._

* * *

 **-seeing is believing-**

Dark.

Everywhere, every _thing_ , dark.

She twitched her fingers, feeling them slowly succumb in response to her command, twitching slightly before falling limp.

"…she's coming to…"

"…not yet….another…dose, yes, in there…."

The world faded out again.

 **-seeing is believing-**

This time, she was awake for longer.

The world flickered in, then out. She struggled to open her eyes- her eyelids felt glued together by layers of sleep, and she winced when she finally shot them open. She blinked again, the feeling of waking up after hours of chemical-induced sleep feeling _so familiar,_ she almost groaned in good humour.

 _Again? Really, Kami-sama?_

She blinked, and the darkness didn't withdraw, much to her confusion. It was only then when someone tightened her blindfold that she realised the means on which her sight had been taken away.

"She's awake."

She struggled against her upright position on the chair, darting her eyes around frantically at the sound of a voice, seeing nothing, but hearing _something-_ footsteps?

 _[tac, tac, tac]_

Footsteps, she confirmed. But where was she?

She wriggled her feet, and when they brushed against something cold and smooth, she sighed. Her ankles and thighs were cuffed _loosely_ \- enough to give comfort, but not enough to allow her any degree of movement.

She bit hard onto the gag in her mouth, and fingers ghosted over her face, pulling the gag out. Sakura coughed, relishing the feel of air in her mouth, and not the disgusting earthy smell of the gag.

"I assume you're here to interrogate me," she said hoarsely, grimacing at the sound of her own voice – and coughing slightly as her voice cracked without any moisture.

A plastic rim was shoved under her lip and she tipped her head back, as cold, metallic-tasting water was forced into her mouth, she swallowed in a hurry, before the bottle was taken away.

Licking her lips, the metallic taste remained in her mouth, but it was water- she should be foolish not to accept anything they offered her.

After all, it wasn't like they would kill her.

If she were right, (Sakura laughed inwardly, she was _always_ right) they wouldn't be killing her anytime soon. The Byakugan was way too precious for them to kill off a user, unless they were truly stupid, (which she doubted) with those Nara of theirs.

"We are," a voice replied, and Sakura raised a brow, he had actually answered.

 _A voice. Male, obviously._

"You're a lot nicer than most interrogators," she mused allowed, allowing herself a small smile. Konoha ninja were _always_ soft.

The blindfold was removed, and Sakura frowned. Why'd they remove the blindfold? The element of surprise was always going to give a side the upper hand-

Her pearl eyes flickered open.

And found herself gazing straight into a pair of dark eyes.

"Ah, so I _did_ land the good cop," she mused. "Uchiha, Itachi."

She stared into his eyes, unblinking, and only narrowed them when the blended into crimson hues.

Sakura slumped forward, unconscious in her chair as she was caught in the hypnotism of the Sharingan.

 **-seeing is believing-**

She reopened her eyes to scenery of red and black.

The very thought of Tsukuyomi was enough to instil fear in her mind- but the real thing was enough to let herself be afraid.

"What do you wish to know," she whispered to the world around her, knowing that somewhere, _somehow_ he would be watching, _listening_ to her every move.

" _Whatever you wish to tell me,"_ the wind whispered back.

Her surroundings rapidly changed around her, and Sakura found herself free of any chains that may have held her down in the physical world.

The red sunset bled down onto the ground, and the sky cried, the red coloured tsunami seeping from the horizon and onto the ground, until they finally covered her, pulling her under, staining her white eyes blood red, as she struggled to breathe in the thick liquid.

Her chest felt so heavy, or maybe it was the red slime around her pulling her down, as she took as gasping breath as the tsunami pulled her under.

She felt the liquid seep through her nose, into her lungs, and she chocked while no sound came out, as she sunk to the bottom, lying at the bottom and her eyes never closed, held open by the liquid-

And then the world flashed white.

She marvelled in the ability the Tsukuyomi could change, as her insides unclogged.

She gasped for air, even though this were genjutsu if felt so _so real._

A hard stiff board appeared behind her, and Sakura found herself chained onto a cross, her arms tied to the shorter arms, her legs chained together on the longer arm.

A flurry of crows appeared and Itachi himself appeared in front of her, grasping a leather hilted katana.

And then the world rushed into invert colours.

His body was outlined in white while is normally pale skin was now the deepest shade of onyx.

Only the crimson eyes retained their colour.

"What will you tell me," dozens of clones of Itachi Uchiha whispered, and she shuddered, as the unspoken message echoed again, again, again and again.

 _What will you tell me before I have to force it out of you?_

She screamed, a betrayal to herself, a betrayal to her morals.

 _Father. I'm sorry._

" _You are never to show emotion," he said, as the whip slashed her back, leaving red welts._

" _I won't show emotion."_

"I'm sorry," she whispered, as Itachi's katana dug into her stomach, slicing through organs and layer of flesh.

The katana dug further into her abdomen, and pierced the wood of the cross behind her, but she felt nothing.

She cried, the tears sliding down her face as she broke apart into pieces in front of this man, this person, as he dug through her experiences, her memories, but she felt nothing.

She rested her head against the splintered wooden cross, trying to resting her head against her shoulder as the metal cuff around her neck kept her upright and straight.

"You have what you want," she hissed, tired, vulnerable but he hadn't rid her of her voice, her will to speak.

Itachi stared at her, and his clones all sheathed their katanas in unison.

"I do," he agreed.

The world's colour faded, and Sakura watched as her arms faded into ash, and she didn't struggle as the wind blew her away.

 **-seeing is believing-**

"What are you most scared of, Sakura?"

She had cocked her head to the side, as brother and sister sat together on the hill scattered with flowers.

"I don't know," she had replied, (she had been so young, innocent and full of **emotion** ) coking her head to the side, her green eyes twinkling.

Deidara had laughed slightly, and Sakura's heart broke at the memory, _he had smiled then_ , and he ruffled her short pink locks with the back of his hand.

"Everyone's afraid of something, Sakura-chan," he chided, handing her a cupcake which she had eagerly took, cramming it into her mouth.

"Hmm," she giggled, as Deidara his open palm at her, its mouth grinning in a mischievous smirk.

They sat in silence, the wind ruffling their bright hair, as they blended in with their surroundings, only two pink and yellow smears against a field of green and colour.

"Losing you," she had decided on, with much thought. "I don't ever want to lose you, brother."

Deidara had smiled back, grinning as he hugged the younger sibling. "You won't," he assured with a grin.

 _(how foolish had she been to believe him?)_

 **-seeing is believing-**

She sat there, upright, conscious and unmoving.

She shut her mind to the memory.

 _This is not the time to think of the past, Sakura._

"It's fine to have hope."

She looked up, her shoulders sagging slightly as she recognized the jet black orbs of Uchiha Itachi.

"Oh, it's _you_ ," she said, not bothering to hide her distaste.

He ignored her, leaning in the doorway of her cell.

If there were one thing she hated, it was the open door. The door was intentionally left open, taunting Sakura with the freedom it promised, seducing her with its ideas of escape and home.

The door was left open to let her know of the freedom she could not have.

She was bound, ankle up, to the stiff metal chair built into the room, with no way of her even wriggling out of her bonds.

"Don't taunt me with freedom, you _bastard_ ," she hissed, struggling to curl her fingers into fists. "Leave, unless you have reason to grant me with your ungodly existence."

Itachi looked at her, almost bored, and she had the sudden urge to snap his neck in half there and then.

Almost emotionlessly, Itachi spoke. "You remind me of me," he said, the corners of his lips turning up in a ghost smile. "We both had hope once. Now we know there is no hope."

She said nothing.

He left.

Huh, Sakura thought. Easier then she had planned out.

 **-seeing is believing-**

"You have a non-Hyūga Byakugan user?"

Hiruzen nodded, slightly unnerved by the stare that Shimura _Danzō gave him._

 _Sarutobi Hiruzen was no fool- he knew the vague details of Danzō's organisation, Root. Danzō would always try to obtain kekkei genkai wielding shinobi, as his last attempts at recruiting Uchiha Itachi had failed, much to the elder's distaste._

 _"Allow them to join Root."_

 _"What," Hiruzen hissed at Danzō, his face contorting in rage as he stared the man down from the other side of the desk. "Have you learnt from being in here,_ _Shimura_ _? I have told you that no Clan shinobi-"_

 _He paused, realising his mistake._

 _"You forget this shinobi is not of a clan," said Danzō, his voice deadly calm, his wrinkled features impassive. "The_ Hyūga cannot take action against me, for this is not one of their own."

He was right. Goddamnit, he was right. Hiruzen could not deny that Danzō's logic was true, no matter how twisted the motives behind it were.

"This does not mean that you can simply take a shinobi with the Byakugan for your own," Hiruzen said, "regardless of the circumstances, shinobi are people, not tools."

"Grow up, Hokage-sama," Danzō snarled, "we live in a world where shinobi are sacrificed every day. You send these _tools_ on missions you know they won't come back from, and you do it blindly. You are a fool not to treat shinobi as so. As for me," he said haughtily, "I prefer to have the sharpest kunai in my collection."

Hiruzen fought the urge to snap Danzō's frail neck. "She will never be part of root, Danzō," he said, calmly. "The Hyūga will not allow one of their own-"

"One of their own? Since when have children not born with the name Hyūga immediately part of the Hyūga clan?"

"Since their pride has allowed it," Hiruzen interjected. "Do you really think the Hyūga would let another no-name shinobi with the Byakugan run around showing it off? Anyone born or _given_ the Byakugan has a direct connection to the Hyūga, regardless of the feelings on both sides."

"Even so," Danzō murmured. "What good is a sword in a display cabinet?"

Hiruzen doesn't reply.

He knew that having a perfectly god, capable shinobi with Konoha's bloodline locked up in prison for the rest of their life was a bad decision. But they did not know the nature of this girl.

"Better in a display cabinet then lying on the ground for trash to pick up," Hiruzen mutters back.

Danzō scoffs, but says no more.

 **-seeing is believing-**

* * *

 **a/n:** And there you have it! Chapter 4!

Wow, the feedback has been stunning. **90 alerts in three chapters.** Three! (as well as those of you who have faved! 3)

Thank you, all of you! I was worried about the risk of flamers for a story like this, as it's something different. Thank you for your continued support.

Some of you have mentioned that you liked the Itachi and Sakura interaction, even though this is Pre-Massacre. I added that bit for you.

Also, **pairings have not been decided and are not guaranteed to be included. Yet.**

Thank you for reading, and please drop by a review. Really! I'd like to see what responses some of you may have. :D

Have a nice day,

 **silverdiadems**


	5. retribution

I do not win, I defeat.

silverdiadems

 _Chapter Five: retribution_

 **a/n:** _You guys are awesome, I swear :D All the follows and favourites already! I think we're up to 120+ follows now. Keep it up! :)_ _ **Special dedication to**_ darth-sakura _for leaving a nice review. :) Without further ado, on with the story!_

* * *

 **-retribution-**

"Who are _you?"_

"I," the man said, his lips curling in a smirk, "am none of your concern. I believe your name was Sakura?"

She was chained to the chair, as was the custom when visitors came. Sakura had been surprised at the notion of someone visiting her- (after all, who knew her _here_?) but somewhat pleased. Word had got around of her presence.

"Yes," she replied stiffly, narrowing her eyes at the man. "How _rude_ of you. You know my name, but I do not have the status to know yours?"

"You do not," he said, "and I doubt you ever will. Sakura who?"

"Pardon?"

"Clan."

"Ah." She said, understanding. "I'm surprised you don't know. I thought you knew everything about me after the Uchiha."

The man's mouth shifted downwards in a position of displeasure. "The brat told us almost nothing after your interrogation. You either have a very strong mental will, or Uchiha was withholding information."

Interesting, she mused. She knew Itachi had seen the scene with her father. But why had he chosen not to disclose the information…?

"Hm," she said aloud, shifting her wrists around when the metal got to heavy on her wrists. The chains clanged loudly in the silence of the room. "As for last name… just put Hyūga."

"Hyūga," the man scoffed. "You are not a Hyūga."

"Am I not?" She stated softly, smiling a little. "I would consider myself so."

"You will never be one of the Hyūga," he scoffed. "Look at you. A child, with no knowledge of the Hyūga ways except for their eyes- and you wish to call yourself Hyūga?"

"I doubt I am less competent then the Hyūga heiress," Sakura said. "Rumours of her fragility have reached even Iwagakure, of all places. Our people listen intently for news of the Byakugan."

She watched his face as it flickered from annoyance to a strange mixture of doubt and approval.

"Alright then, Hyūga Sakura." He said mockingly. "Let's see how long you hold onto the Hyūga name."

She smiled widely, her opaque eyes glinting as she watched him leave.

A queen never lets go of her crown.

 **-retribution-**

"Hokage-sama, I have the report on Prisoner 394."

"Remind me," Hiruzen said, taking a drag of his pipe before exhaling- watching the smoke travel in circles around the room.

"Sakura, sir."

"Ah," he said, in acknowledgement. " _That_ one. The report, please?"

"O-Of course, sir," the Chūnin stuttered, opening the scroll. "Um… I see, yes here."

He cleared his throat. "Prisoner was questioned by Hatake Sakumo at 9:16. The following is a report written by Hatake. ' _394 is acting as usual. She has started to eat, only after another guard had bitten into the food before her. She seems to be wary of poison. When questioned, she showed interest that Itachi Uchiha had not disclosed the full details of the interrogation. She has been asked to be called Hyūga Sakura-"_

"Hyūga?"

"-Sakura, yes."

The Hokage tutted, taking a long drag before replying. "Foolish girl. But she has acted towards our interests."

"Pardon?"

"She has chosen to be named as a Hyūga, yes?" The Chūnin nodded. "Danzō cannot act against our will, then. If the girl herself has chosen to ally herself with a major clan of Konoha, Danzō cannot touch her while she clings onto that name. It's genius on the girl's part. Although I doubt she knew about Danzō's intentions. "

"Ah," the Chūnin responded. It was no secret that the Hokage despised Danzō's work and what he stood for.

"It will not be long before a Hyūga will request to see her," Hiruzen said, frowning slightly. He pulled out a scroll from the first drawer of his desk, and handed it to the Chūnin. He took it without response. "Give this to Sakumo," he said, eyes darting around the room. "And tell him to give it to the girl."

"Of course, sir."

"Hopefully before Danzō gets there first," he muttered.

 **-retribution-**

The clanging of a door woke Sakura from her sleep.

"You again," she commented wryly, as the door creaked open and closed in one movement. "Sakumo."

"How'd you know?" Hatake Sakumo said, laughing slightly.

"The guard greeted you at the door."

"Ah," he said. "Perceptive, aren't we?"

"I have been told as much."

"I have come to deliver a message from the Hokage," said Sakumo, waving a scroll in the air. "You are quite the well sough after possession, Hyūga."

She blinked, grinning inwardly. She hadn't expected them to take it seriously. Oh well. It would be fun while it lasted.

"Hyūga?" she said incredulously. "You took me seriously?"

"Who takes an A-grade prisoner _anything but_ seriously," he shot back. "Clinging onto the Hyūga name did you good, regardless of what your true intentions were."

She laughed, a dry, rasping sound due to her limited living conditions. "Well," she said. "Down to business. The scroll, if you will?"

Sakumo pulled a key from a chain around his wrist, hidden by the dark sleeves of his ANBU cloak. "I'll unlock your wrists so you can read the scroll," he said. "I assume you will not attempt to escape."

"Why not just read it to me?"

The ANBU's mouth curled down. "Even I do not have the authority to read a scroll directed towards a prisoner of your calibre. Can I trust you not to do anything rash?"

"You may assume so, yes," she said.

 _Stupid, stupid_ , she thought. _Konoha shinobi have too much trust in their prisoners._

 _This will teach them._

He grabbed her left hand first, and she watched in silence. It didn't really matter what hand he unlocked first, both her hands had been trained to hit as hard as the other.

Her left hand came free. She lifted it up, groaning as the unaccustomed weight pulled on her muscles. She clenched and unclenched her fists, and when her right arm was freed from the shackles, she pulled the key from his hand, and jabbed it with as much force as she could into his wrist.

He hissed, and his eyes flashed, and while Sakura's legs were still weighed down by chains, her arms were not. A quick punch to his jaw was enough for him to call the fight.

Sakumo grabbed her hands, and with extra force, pinned them to the arms of the chair.

"I told you not to attempt to escape," he said, glaring. "Your attempts were futile."

"It was worth a try," she shrugged nonchalantly. "You place too much trust in your prisoners."

"I can see that now," said Sakumo. He enchained her right arm once more. Placing the scroll in her left hand he stood up, waiting for the fight from the prisoner.

No punch came.

"Good day," he said indifferently. And left the door open behind him.

She snarled at the open door once more.

"Bastard," she hissed into the silence.

Pulling the black ribbon of the scroll, she scanned its contents with amused eyes.

 _Dear Miss Hyūga-_

She snorted at the title.

 _-or should I call you Sakura?_

 _It has come to my attention that you are a well-prized individual. Not many eight-year olds have the skill to take on a team of ANBU and lasted as long as you have._

 _I have come to you with an offer- your freedom for your skill as a shinobi. Another man by the name of Shimura Danzō wants you as a shinobi in his ANBU system named Root, and should he have contacted you already, I beg you to pay his offer no heed and to listen to mine. Danzō is an evil man, Sakura. I am sure that with your intellect you can understand what I am saying here._

 _Would you rather sit in a cell watching your life drain away or swear your allegiance to Konoha? Of course, you will be monitored and a seal will be placed on you to ensure your loyalty. We will not let you serve another nation because you carry a very valuable tool that only the Hyūga of Konoha can teach you to master- I am sure you know what we speak of. The Byakugan is a gift, and you have been given the fortune to master it. Should you swear allegiance to our nation, we will guarantee your personal safety as well as your freedom if you join us._

 _Of course, if you decline, we will make sure certain arrangements are made that I am sure you not be… the biggest fan of._

 _I look forward into seeing your reply._

 _Sarutobi Hiruzen, 3_ _rd_ _Hokage of Konoha._

"Well," she said. "A threat already? Konoha's not so bad, after all."

Of course, the 'certain arrangements' they had spoken of was the death penalty. It was either join Konoha or open the gates of the Underworld.

But the offer was rather misleading, she mused. The freedom they spoke of was permanent house arrest until she had proven herself to truly want to be loyal to Konoha.

A flash of yellow entered her memory, and she saddened.

"Deidara," she whispered. _Where are you now?_

( _Where? Keep hanging on, please, my brother, please-)_

 _I will find my way back to you. Whether I am the servant of another nation or not I will assure it that I will see you again._

She'd accept. For his sake she would. She would do anything to free him from their father.

Anything.

 **-retribution-**

"How could you let her go? How could you have not gotten there sooner?!"

Deidara grit his teeth. "I apologise, Father." Really, he meant it. But not to his father.

 _(I apologise for letting you go. But I hope you have at least escaped the jail you have left me in.)_

Kenji Kirisaki snarled. "You are useless, really you are, Deidara," he said. "You have failed me."

 _No shit,_ Deidara thought. But more importantly he had failed Sakura.

But really, how stupid had his sister been? He had never doubted his sister's abilities, but she could have told him of the threat she had sensed.

Why had she chosen not to tell him?

The question would turn into one that would haunt Deidara for nights after that day.

Why?

Had she wanted to go with them?

Had she finally made a mistake in her own abilities?

No, Sakura was smart, deadly so. She had never made a mistake, everything she did was precisely calculated and accurate to the last decimal place.

"I hope that one day, I'll understand her," he murmured. "One day, I'll see what she thought."

One day.

 **-retribution-**

"I want an audience with the so-called Hyūga Sakura."

The receptionist faltered. "You mean 394? Cell 18."

Hizashi Hyūga nodded, before opening the door to the visitor room.

It was empty.

"Good," he said, before walking out.

He passed the other cells, before stopping at number 18. "You, guard," he said, his pearly eyes narrowed. "Get her ready for an audience."

The guard nodded.

Moments later, the door swung open to reveal a masked ANBU holding the girl at arm's length. Her hands were chained in front of her, but no blindfold covered the stolen goods from being on display.

Her opaque eyes were ever so tinted with lavender, more so than Hiashi's own. He could remember those eyes on another man, another person- who was now long gone.

His younger brother.

" _Talk to her like who she is- not whose eyes she has taken."_ Hiashi had warned him before he had come here.

 _She is not Hirobi._

"Thank you," he nodded to the guard, who dropped Sakura ungracefully on the chair opposite to him. Hizashi took a seat on the other side if the table.

Her hair hung in her face shielding his view of her face. Her hair was the lightest of pinks at the roots, but gradually faded in an ombre-like fashion, unevenly stained red by blood.

And when she finally lifted her head, Hizashi swallowed to get rid of the lump in his throat. Hirobi's eyes.

She cocked her head slightly, and her gaze looked so lifeless and distraught that he almost felt sorry for the girl.

"No matter what you claim," he began and Sakura looked up, blinking. "You will never be one of us, girl."

 **-retribution-**

* * *

 **a/n:** I'd like to think that was a cliffhanger. Yeee :)

Thank you, all of you- those who take the time to read this story, all THREE THOUSAND of you. Thank you! 3 Those who follow, those who favourite- this is for you. Those who review- this chapter is **dedicated** to you.

 **Review replies for the last few chapters:**

 **darth-sakura** : Yes, poor Deidara :,) I will put more Itachi-Sakura action! *winks* Thank you for leaving supernice reviews! Hope to see you next chapter~

 **orlha:** That actually sounds really interesting… I wish I could rewrite that chapter XD Konoha!Deidara would be so fun to write.

 **Esther-himechan:** I hope last chapter cleared things up. You will be getting more ItaSaku interaction! I promise~

 **Suzululu4moe:** In fact, I have heard of Stockholm syndrome. I have mentioned that pairings are not guaranteed, and regardless, I as the author should have the right to write what I want. I apologise if what I produce is not what you want me to write, but with due respect it is **my** story. If you don't like it, don't read it. If you like it, read it. I'm not forcing you to.

Also, thanks to **BoycottingLove, , faircrown and Nyx'sWings.** As well as all you guest reviewers! I can't really reply to you cause your names are the same :,)

Until next time.

 **Silverdiadems**

 _Word count: 2041_


	6. made of glass

**I do not win, I defeat.**

silverdiadems

/

 **Chapter 6: made of glass**

/

 **Thanks to** Esther-himechan, Suzululu4moe, Marked Moon, PinKrystal, orlha **and** Guest **who made this possible. 3**

* * *

She eyed him, her senses kicking in. _Enemy._

"I know," she asked, eyes searching Hizashi's in an attempt at mimicking confusion. "Why ask?"

Hizashi looks at her, but immediately Sakura recognizes that he is not looking at _her._ He is looking, watching the part of her that used to be someone else.

He sighed, and Sakura blinks, because this is not the way she envisioned their conversation. She had foreseen arguments and denials, but had been faced with loneliness and silence.

Silence, her good friend.

"Why you?"

The question catches her off guard. Hizashi has dropped his guard, she noticed. He sits slumped in the chair meant for straight backs and firm voices. "Why you? What made them choose you?"

 _Why me?_

Sakura found herself speechless. An intruder, asking the very question she had asked the skies, the wind, the clouds, but received no answer.

He looks at her expectantly, and she feels implied to give a half-truth to satisfy is curiosity. "My father is an influential man," she said at last, swallowing down a lump of bad memories. "He wanted his child to be well-known for being the child who had stolen another's bloodline." She said it with distaste. The plan had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

"I see," said Hizashi, sighing once more. "Do you want to be here?"

 _What a dumb question._ "No," she replies immediately. "Does it look like I want to be chained to a chair and have myself smell like mud and dried blood?"

He laughed a dry laugh, a crackling, half amused, half not. "I mean, do you want my clan's dojustsu?"

"Of course," Sakura replied, bitterly. "Who wouldn't want a dojutsu that could let you see further, push the limits of your sight farther? Having experienced it myself, I know. You know too."

She huffed, disappointed in Kami-sama for her lack of faith in this one pink-haired individual. "But under these circumstances, no. Most definitely not. Not when a life has been claimed to give me something I should not wield."

Hizashi nodded in approval. "I see it that way too, little girl," he mused, nodding.

Their little conversation of philosophy and ethics lasted a while, and Hizashi found himself speaking calmly, as if he were talking to his brother. They spoke of politics and law, belittling the feudal lords, and exchanging opinions.

Hizashi found himself enjoying the conversation.

Of course, his brother in his place would be threatening the girl with a knife for information on her homeland. The younger twin laughed inwardly. And he here was, discussing ethics with an eight year old that spoke like a wise man.

Sakura uttered a controversial statement, and he caught the way her eyes flickered to his, seeking his reaction. He had laughed slightly, and shot back an equally politically degrading sentence that made the girl crack a smile.

He had come in here to find a monster, a thief, but had found a wrongly accused girl, who happened to have the wrong connections.

Though he had enjoyed their conversation, he could not be here too long. He stood up from the chair. "You remind me of Hirobi," he revealed in a rare display of raw emotion.

 _You're young, just like my little brother. I should look after you, because his life has been replaced by yours._ He bit back the anger that was sparked when he remembered receiving the news that Hirobi was gone. There is no place for anger in this world, his brother would say, as rational as always.

Hiashi had yet to use his own advice.

"He was wise, he was brave and he was innocent," Hizashi continued. "Just like you." Sliding the chair into place, he unlocked the door.

"Keep his spirit alive, Sakura."

 **-made of glass-**

She's been given a new cell.

She's as excited as a kid in her new bedroom, because the update is long overdue. There's a bathroom in a small nook in the corner of the room with a curtain as a door. She sighs in contentment when she spots a stuffed rectangular shape.

 _A bed._

She throws herself onto the cheap mattress, ignoring the rips and tears in its sheets. She ignores its rough texture, but sighs in contentment when she feels her back stretching at her spine cracking slightly as she stretches her body out.

Any surface an inch more comfortable than the metalsteeliron _chair_ was pleasurable. Too long had her back suffered in that upright position. She supposed it did wonders for her posture. Father would be proud.

Except father wasn't here to see her anymore. He was gone. Gone, like Deidara and gone like Hizashi's brother Hirobi.

Excitement coursed through her, even though _jail cells are not the place for fun, Sakura!_ rings through her mind. But _screw_ responsibility. She's free.

She's felt it for a long time, but now when she realizes it she can finally name the feeling in her heart that is right next to the dread of being captured and far from home. _Freedom,_ it's called. And boy, does it feel good.

She can refuse to train every morning. She can refuse to do her morning stretches. She can say no. She can object, refuse– heck, she can probably _diffuse_ something if she wanted to.

What does this all mean for her?

 _The world is out there. It's yours to take._

She falls asleep, dreaming of possibilities and what-ifs, and things that would've, _should've_ happened.

 _The world is up for grabs, and I'm calling first dibs._

 **-made of glass-**

A knock on the iron door was heard seconds before the latch in the door opened, revealing the prison guard.

She looked up. She had been sitting on her bed, playing with the pillow in a small mind-game of pass time. She met the eyes of the prison guard innocently.

I haven't done anything wrong.

She hadn't really. Just an inconvenient sequence of events had lead her here.

"What," she said, when it was clear that the guard could do nothing but stare. His eyes were shifty, almost guilty under her gaze.

The guard blinked, snapped out of his reverie and cleared his throat. "Uh- well, I didn't know they kept a Hyūga here. Sorry, I-"

"Wait," Sakura snapped before he could continue. "Where are we?"

She has assumed that she was in some prison of sorts, but she didn't know of what type of prison she was being kept in. High-security, low-security… There were many types of jails suited to different crimes.

Her first thought was that this cell was a holding cell. The other cell from which she came seemed very high-security, which had worried Sakura. High security cells were for people who had committed crimes- well, any jail was for people who had committed _crimes_.

 _What had she done wrong?_ Surely, if she hadn't done anything wrong, she should be a free person.

But then again, she was here.

"I don't think I'm authorised to tell you that," the guard said, and she took a moment to admire his honesty. The guard inched the latch open more, peering into the room. "You're young," he stated.

"Yes," she replied. Sakura chose to play it cautious. She wanted this guard as her ally, knowing that he was probably a young jounin, new to the job. He reeked of naivety.

"Uh, well, I'm supposed to tell you that you have a scheduled risk assessment coming up. That's all the information I was given to tell you," he concluded, almost wistfully. Sakura nearly snorted. As if he'd tell her if he knew more.

"Risk assessment?" Sakura said, trying to look scared. She made her lip wobble and her eyes bigger. Heck, she hoped the blood stains didn't put off the young scared girl effect. "W-What's that?"

The guard blinked, fighting back curses under his breath. The last thing he wanted was the girl to cry."Hey, calm down," the guard said soothingly. "It's good news for you anyway. They usually only give these assessments once criminals are to be released. You're probably getting out of here."

She bolted up from her position, her head higher, her back straighter. "What did you just say?"

"I said you're probably-"

"No, I heard you the first time," Sakura snapped childishly, and the guard blinked in astonishment at the change of personality.

"Well, that's my message delivered," he said awkwardly. Sakura paid him no heed as the guard vanished from the door, and the latch closed with a muted bang.

She'd better ace that risk assessment. In the right way, of course. She didn't want people thinking she was a threat.

 _Play it low key, and you've got this in the bag, Sakura,_ she chided herself.

 **-made of glass-**

When they opened the door the next morning, Sakura wiped the sleep from her eyes as quick as she could.

She needed to be alert. She needed to be aware. She didn't need to be half asleep, with her brain still struggling to properly process her thoughts at their normal accuracy.

Three guards had come to escort her to the upper floors via the concrete staircase in the heart of the floor. They flanked her sides, and she couldn't see much being the short eight year old she was. Sakura was positive she wasn't short for her age, but she doubted any tall eight year old could see past the towering figures of the soldiers.

Sakura has resorted to running her mind through various mental drills to keep her alert and, most importantly, awake. She threw random numbers together and selected random options – she had selected thirty-two and sixty-three, and was currently multiplying the two together. She double checked her answer.

When they reached the upper floor, Sakura was racing through the first few digits of pi. She knew up to the six hundredth digit, and was going to keep going, until Deidara had persuaded her to stop with the 'pointless endeavour that would not help her at all in the future'.

 _one four one five two nine eight six seven three_ –

It did keep her on her toes, though.

The upper floor was a bright white – a very distinct contrast to the dark and grey colour palette of the lower dungeon-like floors. She squinted as the lights hit her eyes, it was so bright.

They walked into a hallway with numbered, white painted, plastic doors. Each was numbered by a small digit on the top left. She was directed into room '05' and was instructed to sit in the plastic chair in the room.

The room was empty, except for another chair opposite to Sakura's own. She took a seat at her chair, examining the room.

The lock clicked, and Sakura was left alone with the bright white walls.

Moments later, the door clicked again, before revealing a man with the lightest blonde hair, and cerulean eyes. He smiled politely at her, before taking a seat opposite to Sakura.

"Hello, Sakura," the man said, bringing a notepad into his lap. She stared at him.

 _Stay calm, Sakura._

"My name is Yamanaka Inoichi," he said smiling, when it became apparent that Sakura would not respond. He ducked his gaze for a moment, and Sakura followed his line of sight. He reached for a pen from the bag at his feet, then wrote the date on the notepad. 2/3.

 _Second of the third? It was March still?_ Sakura had thought she spent months in the genjutsu –

Ah. It was only a genjutsu.

"Relax now, Sakura," Inoichi said, and she blinked as the room disappeared around them. Inoichi faded away, but his voice remained. The room became a sea of white, the only colour being the little blush in Sakura's skin. Her once-vibrant dull hair became explosive colour in the white.

"Not another genjutsu," Sakura muttered, fighting back the dread that curled like a living thing in the pits of her stomach. The last time she had been afraid was when she had been caught in the Uchiha's genjutsu, and she had vowed that she would. Not. Be. Afraid.

 _This is not a genjutsu, Sakura._

The reassurance helped, certainly, but _where was he?_ What was this place?

 _This is not a genjutsu because genjutsu create figments of the imagination and trap their victims inside. In another words, genjutsu is not real._

The next words sent Sakura chilled to the core.

 _This is not a genjutsu because this place is real. We're inside your mind, Sakura._

As he said it, his words echoed around the vast chamber. They echoed in Sakura's mind, they literally did, as Sakura felt the words bounce off the unseen walls of the white room.

 _Inside your mind, your mind, your mind, mind, mind, mind…_

"Shut up!" exclaimed Sakura, as the echoes grew louder and more insidious. Her words echoed longer before finally fading into the peace that was silence.

Inoichi's voice came back into her mind. _Very good, Sakura-san. Please, relax. This will only take a moment._

She clenched her fists and cried out as the world around her warped and became distorted, and cracks ran through the whiteness that was around her. Pieces of the walls broke, and with it Sakura could feel her inner defences crumbling with the visual. The walls faded away into the black abyss, and Sakura was left standing on the last white shard that had survived.

Her heart leapt into her throat as the piece broke, and she was sent plummeting into the recesses of her own mind.

 **-made of glass-**

She found herself in the dark, and around her were several rectangular pieces of white, floating and circling her small figure in the dark abyss. She stared into the white, and slowly each rectangle became a screen.

She whirled around, watching herself take her first steps, say her firsts words, throw her first shiruken. She watched as the small pink-haired girl stumbled towards the target, picking up the kunai which had missed, before throwing them with renowned fury.

She looked at all the screens, eight in total. Each represented a year of her life. Sakura stared at the top screen, which had yet to properly conform, and saw herself, staring at the screen which showed her staring at the same screen.

Shaken, she tore her gaze away from the eighth year and cast it onto another. This one showed her laughing as her brother sighed and frowned, muttering words that she could not lip read under his breath.

Four-year-old Sakura ran around the house, her mouth wide because she was laughing, as her brother chased after her in a mock-attempt at a race. She watched as the younger Sakura declared herself the winner, and Deidara pretending to be disappointed as he ruffled her hair.

Her breath hitched, and it was only when she blinked that she was snapped out of her reverie. Droplets, _tears,_ fell from her eyelashes when she did so. She sucked in a breath, shuddering as she let it go.

The happy scene continued on, before Sakura tore her gaze away when she couldn't see through the bur of the tears that hadn't, that she refused, to let fall. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Eventually, the room warped again, like a distorted mirror and she found herself back on the plastic chair, in the white room. Away from the screens that shone with an ethereal glow as well as memories of her childhood.

She raised a hand to wipe her cheeks – only to realise they were dry. Dry and free of any tears, with only caked blood in its place.

Inoichi looked at her piercingly, and when she felt his gaze, she looked up- remembering that she wasn't the only person in the room. "Oh," she said through slightly parted lips. _I forgot you were here._

He eyed her, his gaze no longer steely but soft. "Thank you for this session, Sakura-san," he intoned, rising from his seat. "You will be escorted back to your cell now."

He left the room, the lock clicking after him. The doors reopened moments later to reveal the squad that had escorted her up.

Sakura felt like anaesthetic as she walked back down. Cold, sharp and numb.

 **-made of glass-**

The aftermath of the psych test had done its number on Sakura. Her first thought after was _thank you._ Not I hate you, but thank you.

Seeing her childhood again had made Sakura numb. Numb because it hurt knowing she had left that person behind. She had looked happy. Truly happy, with her brother.

Seeing the younger Deidara had been a stab in the heart. Watching him have fun with her and lose so she could gain had been salt in the wound. She thanked Inoichi, because seeing him again had made her realise what she had to fight for.

It had made her angry, too. Watching the memories for her had been hard on a mental level, but harder personally because she knew he was watching through her eyes, watching her memories with the use of the mind-transfer jutsu.

But she knew one thing from this experience. _She wanted her brother back._

She didn't care if they were in Konoha, or maybe they had run away to Suna like they had planned when they were younger. She wanted to free him from the cage that she had left him in.

Her father had locked them up, but she had left him there alone. Sakura felt so guilty that she has left Deidara to face the wrath of his anger.

"Hey," she called. No one answered in the empty room, but she knew that someone out there was watching, listening, monitoring her cell. The graffiti on the roof hid the small round eye of a camera. She waved at the camera, sticking her tongue out.

"I would like to speak to a lawyer."

 **-see through me, because i'm made of glass-**

* * *

 **endnote.** hiya, and welcome back to idnwid !

sorry, this was terribly overdue. i've been planning and writing down all the ideas for the conclusion of this story. i think that, at this rate, we will see this story having a sequel ! (which, btdubs, means teenage sakura !) also, i was on vacay so that didn't really help as i had no access to internet ;(

witness as a new layout is in place. chapter titles still serve as scene breaks, but there will be no a/n at the top of the chapter anymore. all that will be here !

xx

 **serious shit.** So we're seeing Sakura 'man-up' a little as she comes to terms with the fact that she can't escape from here physically as she lacks the resources coughstrengthcough to plan a jailbreak. We see her trying to get some allies by playing nice sweet kid. She's going to try to get out of here by using her biggest strength – knowledge. She can't get out using force, but she can use the legal system to her benefit.

Also, Sakura has softened up this chapter a whole fucking lot. This place is getting to her, and she feels her mental securities and masks breaking down, leaving a dishevelled weak lil' girl.

xx

 **thank yous.** Thanks to all **four thousand** (shit that's a LOT) of you for reading ! idk why you read my stuff but you seem to like it so I won't complain ! wow, we have like one-fifty (150) follows and allllmoooossst a hundred faves ! cool beans ya'll ! and most importantly, over twenty reviews. yumyumyum !

 **replies. as always, thank you for reviewing. :D**

 **Esther-himechan** so do i! I'll try and integrate that in later ;) that's partly why I wrote this story- for the hyuga and sakura interaction. I think that when Sakura's being serious in canon her personality is a little like neji's. I secretly ship NejiSaku, even though there aren't many of us out there :( Thank you for your kind review!

 **Suzululu4moe** lolz :) I agree with you 110%. She's flippin **eight**. I wasn't planning anything of the sorts for a very long time. Thanks for the clarification and for your review.

 **Marked Moon** I disagree. Just because she doesn't act like Sakura doesn't mean I need to state that this Sakura is an OC. Fanfiction allows us to use characters and change them. That's the whole point of this community. But thanks for the review.

 **PinKrystal** nawww thank you! I write this story for people like you. I'm glad you like the concept because this isn't your typical piece of fanfiction XD Thank you for your kind review.

 **orlha** I think I'm genuinely considering it XD I might write a oneshot for you where that happens cause currently, if that happened, it would mess with the storyline a little. But I'm SO TEMPTED TO SCREW EVERYTHING UP SO THAT HAPPENS! Thank you for your review!

 **Guest** This is the guest that reviewed on Chapter 5. Thank you! I hope you know who you are XD And yes, I agree. That's how I wanted to show Sakura's situation. And yes, she's eight. XD I have no plans for pairings this early in the story cause she's so young- so definitely any pairings that I use in the future will come into play wayyyy later. :) Thanks for your review!

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lolz and **please** leave your feedback in the nice place known as the **review** box :) very much appreciated! ily all so so so much ;) it means the world to me when you say such nice things ;D bye for now! cya all next chapter ;)

/silverdiadems


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